The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-30

gan the ascent about a hundred feet back
from the mouth of the rift, and l do not be-
heve two panthers could have done better.
The side of the mountain was thickly cover
ed with cedars, vines and rocks, and pro
gress was made almost entirely by creep
ing. Once we drew ourselves up a cliff full
twenty feet high by grapevine hanging
down, and again we made use of a tree to
seek a higher elevation. We had been going
up for half an hour before we bore of TO
the right in the direction of the rift We
then had to move far more cautiously and
| presume it was a full hour from the time
we left the valley before we lay on our
stomachs hundred feet above the camp
fire and looked over The men were di-
rectly beneath us, seated close together,
and were smoking as they counted the
money
We had but one way to attack. Luckily
for us, it was a straight descent / could
have dropped a coin fair upon the hat OF
the man beneath me. We were out upon a
rocky shelf, but there were loose stones of
all sizes all about us. | selected one weigh
ing about twenty-five pounds, the miner
got one equally as large, and we carefully
crept back TO the edge with them. The fall
Of the smallest pebble would startle the men
below, and we used as much caution as II
our lives would pay the forfeit. After a bit
we were ready. The men had not moved.
For minute | lost my nerve 1t seemed a
horrible thing to do. Had | been alone l
believe | should have relented The miner
seemed to read my thoughts, and he put his
mouth to my ear and whispered:
Remember how they shot the ranch
man, and remember they they take our
every shilling
We poised the stones on the edge of the
cliff and at a whispered "Now" from him
we dropped them. heard them strike, and
drew back. He peered over, and after
moment recovered his balance and said:
Now we can go down! Those chaps will
never rob another coachn
1t took us longer to go down than to
come up, but we made the descent in safety,
and walked around to and up the rift. The
fire had nearly died out. We replenished
it, and then saw that both men were dead.
1t was horrible sight, and one | do not
care to describe. Our rocks had fallen
squarely down upon their heads, and you
can imagine the result. There was a dry,
airy cave but few feet away, and the gang
had made the place rendezvous
for long time. We recovered every dol
lar our coach had been robbed Of and more
than as much again, which had been
taken from Others. The cave had big sup
ply of firearms, blankets and provisions,
and in mail bag hanging on the wall were
ten gold and silver watches We got alto
gether sixteen watches, five or six valuable
pins, and firearms worth at least 5000. We
not only secured the wealth, but we made
an even divide and kept every dollar of it,
An attempt was made in Stockton to COM
pei us to "divy" with several people who
had been robbed, but it was a failure As
the tourist was out of ready cash we gave
him $500, but we would not even sell the
Lieutenant back his watch at any price. 1t
was told all over the slope that our haul
amounted to over So, 600 If it did we
earned every dollar of it, besides wiping
out bad gang and leaving the stage line
clear for the next six months.